A Malicious Smile
by I-am-the-survivor
Summary: If Regina ever claimed that the stares didn't bother her she'd be telling a blatant lie.
Oh my god guys I wrote something other than Agent Carter or AOS! This is the first ouat centric fic I've written in 2 whole years! This idea popped up on me when I was watching the new sneak peek that Adam posted yesterday. I was very much encouraged by my group chat (Shout out to my Star Whores!) to write this so tada! Here it is. If only this would happen…

 _A Malicious Smile_

If Regina ever claimed that the stares didn't bother her she'd be telling a blatant lie. She had grown accustomed to the ones in Storybrooke. Some pitiful, some joyous, some angry. However, now in the Underworld it seems that her reputation long preceded death. To be fair a good deal of people were here at her hand.

"Split up. We'll cover more grounds." Emma commands already wandering off in a different direction.

"Great. The sooner we get out of here the better." Her eyes roam to a man spray painting the window of a shop in a eery red. As if on cue he turned smiling at her. Not the kind smiles she got from Henry or Robin… No there was something malicious behind the smile that made a shiver crawl up her spine.

The dead roam the sidewalks as they walk down the middle of the road. Robin leads the way slightly heading in the direction of her office. She can feel their eyes on her. Emotions reflect in those that she hasn't seen in a long time; resentment, maliciousness, fear. When she catches their eyes they either sneer or turn away. She's not sure which feels worse.

She's too busy staring at the side of the road to realize that she had slowed enough for Robin to gain a substantial lead. Her eyes so trained on a little girl that huddles away from her that she doesn't notice a man storming up behind her until he grips her arm spinning her around to face him.

"So they finally got you, huh? Someone took down the evil queen?" He spits gripping her biceps so tightly that she's almost sure that they will leave bruises. "Who got you?" He laughs. His teeth are nearly rotten and his breath is foul. A cap hides away his unruly hair and presses some wayward hurls against his sweaty forehead. "Please tell me it was Snow White." He laughs again at her silence and it ends in a wheeze.

"You deserve to be here!" Her head snaps to a woman pointing at her from the side of the road. Too afraid to approach her yet bold enough to throw insults. "You killed us!" She clenches her jaw tightly silently thanking that Henry had veered off with Emma.

Quickly she had gained quite a crowd, surrounding her until she lost vision of Robin. Too many faces dancing around her, hissing insults.

"You bitch."

"Killer!"

"Witch!"

She's too stunned to move. Hands grasp, pulling at her. Each person trying to get the first swing at the presumably dead queen. Each person having waited so long simply to get their revenge on her. Stuck dwelling over their lives lost. A face appears in front of her. The smile so full of spite it was sickening. It was the man she had seen spray painting.

"Well look who we have here." He holds back the crowd enough so that he's the only one touching her now. "Do you remember me?" No. She didn't. The answer seems to be in her expression because his eyebrows knit together in anger, his face slowly turning red. "You don't do you? Of course not. You killed too many people to remember just one." Guilt settles deep in her gut at the truth of the statement. She had killed hundreds whether it be directly or indirectly she couldn't say. "You came to my farm one day. Me, and my wife, and our beautiful little girl…" Her heart pounds against her chest as he pulls her closer. Too close. Too close. "She was only seven do you know that? It was two days until her eighth birthday. We had gotten her a brand new horse. Spent all of our money on it just to see her smile." She closes her eyes pointing her face to the ground. That causes the man to jolt her screaming in her face. "Look at me!" She does. His eyes are rimming red. "You accused us of hiding Snow White. You killed Maria first." He sneers. "Killed her in front of her own daughter. Ripped her heart out of her chest and crushed it." He snickers, fingers piercing the thin jacket she donns. "I can still hear Cynthia screaming…" He spits in her face causing her to retract once again. Calm down. Just use magic. You need to calm down. "You held my little girl against me. Baiting me… _One girl's life for another,_ You said. I said I didn't know a thing… So you killed her." Desperately she tries to summon something to help her but nothing comes. "You killed my little girl! You killed my family!" A choked sob leaves her lips as she shut her eyes tightly. His fingers burn at her arms. His violent jolting makes her head rattle painfully. "I still told you I didn't know so you killed me. But I didn't. What was I supposed to say? I never even met the girl!" He shouts pushing her to the ground. She lands with a hard thud on the road. "They were able to move on. I couldn't. I couldn't because I knew one day. One day, I would find you here. You can't kill here but you can cause so much pain. And I'm going to make you suffer!"

"Hey!" Regina shields her face as he raises his arm to strike. Suddenly the crowd parts revealing Robin pointing an arrow straight at the man. His gaze pierces the man standing over her. "Let her go or I will shoot."

"Are you crazy boy?" A woman from the crowd shouts. "Don't you know who she is?"

"I'm plenty aware. Regina, come on." She scrambles quickly to her feet almost running over to him. "Leave." He spits at the crowd. Sure enough they disperse without protest.

"I…"

"Regina why didn't you shout for me? I thought you were right behind me." He states slinging his bow back over his shoulder. She honestly didn't know why.

"I…"

"Are you hurt? Did they hurt you?" She shakes her head briefly before falling into his arms. She wills herself not to sob as he wraps his arms around her clutching her tightly. "Are you alright?" He asks pulling away to brush her hair back out of her face.

"I killed them. All of those people."

"I know." He whispers, his voice laced with disappointment. Back in Storybrooke it was easier to not think about that. How much blood she has on her hands. Now, here, with everyone surrounding her… There was no denial to it. That was likely only a small fraction too. "We'll get through this together." He states pressing his lips to her hairline.

Over his shoulder she spies the man with the malicious smile staring at her.


End file.
